Bat­tle of the bal­sam

THE IWA HAS launched a new cam­paign to crack down on the spread of Hi­malayan bal­sam, even be­yond the rivers and canals where it has usu­ally been found.

In ad­di­tion to a se­ries of work par­ties or­gan­ised by var­i­ous IWA branches around the coun­try, it is call­ing for more vol­un­teers to join the cam­paign fol­low­ing ev­i­dence that the plant has be­come even more wide­spread this year. “Whether peo­ple are walk­ing the dog or out with fam­ily and friends, ev­ery­one can help by pulling up a few plants if they see it be­fore the seeds have started to de­velop,” says the IWA. PULL, SNAP, STOMP It has come up with a three-stage check list to re­mind peo­ple what to do:

PULL – Check IWA’s Hi­malayan Bal­sam iden­ti­fi­ca­tion guide to be cer­tain that it is Hi­malayan bal­sam and then pull up in­di­vid­ual bal­sam stems.

SNAP – break off the root be­low the low­est grow­ing node,

STOMP – Pile it up in small heaps for it to rot down, away from the path. Big­ger piles can be stamped on to as­sist the rot­ting process.